Intolerance is not democracy
Photo: STAR
I am an NRB and have come to my country after eight long years. I am happy to see a democratically elected government in power. One of the poorest countries in the world, Bangladesh faces a lot of serious challenges. One of them is how to handle the democratic process after years of military rule and some civilian misrule. The other day I was shocked to see a picture on the front page of The Daily Star. A person was striking a motorcyclist on his chest with a brick. The main thing in a democracy is the right of an individual to say or do what he wants to say or do without causing harm to others. And others have to tolerate that behaviour however wrong they might think it is. That means the motorcyclist had the right not to observe the hartal. What I saw in the picture was barbaric, undemocratic and criminal. It should be the number one priority of the responsible authorities to find out that individual with the brick and prosecute him. And please do not tell me this is how things are done in Bangladesh - that will be an insult to all the peace-loving Bangalees.
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